Zora Neal Hurston's How It Feels To Be Colored Me

Zora Neal Hurston wrote during a time when racism had been proven ruthless. Yet, she was raised in “an all-black town” where she was shielded against the cruelties of racism. In her story “How It Feels to Be Colored Me”, she shares the account of “the very day that [she] became colored.” (Perkins, 2014, p.13) Through the use or imagery and sarcastic expression, she reveals how it was to be an African American during the 1900s, when the country was predominantly white, and expresses how race does not define one’s identity. “During this period, white people differed from colored to me only in that they rode through town and never lived there.” (Perkins, p.13) Hurston expresses the unimportance of the color of a person’s skin. She shows this in the story through the image of her sitting on her porch greeting all tourists that passed by, making her the first “welcome to our state Floridian.” (Perkins, p.13) Regardless of the color of their skin, Hurston welcomed all those who were passing through and even entertained …show more content…
“It seemed that I had suffered a sea change. I was not Zora of Orange County any more, I was now a little colored girl.” (Perkins, p.14) After realizing that she was of color and the significances in relation to this fact, she makes a division between herself being a person of color and those she was now surrounded by. “But I am not tragically colored. There is no great sorrow dammed up in my soul, nor lurking behind my eyes. I do not mind at all. I do not belong to the sobbing school of Negrohood.” (Perkins, p.14) Hurston displays determination that carries her past the difficulties African Americans face during that time. In having this determination, she is able to attain an education and research the problems of American-American society through her writing. Hurston recognizes the African heritage as a significant aspect in determining a person’s